As a student who went thought the French Immersion school system, I know all too well how hard it is to find high-quality, Canadian-made French resources that aren’t from a million years ago. So when the list of potential Pro D Day sessions I could attend came available, I chose to stray away from my usual PHE content and give my second teachable a shot- French is it.

For the Provincial EDTech Pro D Day, I attended the French Immersion IDÉLLO session for K-8 teachers hosted by Sophie Dion. Middle school is the age that I am hoping to be teaching in the future, and French in one of my teachable subject areas so I thought this would be the perfect session to attend. The nice thing about most things out there for teachers is that with a little bit of tweaking, anything can be used for any grades as long as it is appropriate for the age group.

During this zoom call session, Sophie introduced us to a website called IDÉLLO that is used by any French teacher that knows about it. The website is a digital learning platform that contain nearly 15,000 education resources for both educators and students. Some of the resources include videos, podcasts, educational games and digital tools. One of the best parts about this website is that it is Canadian, so it is designed for the Canadian curriculum. But there are so many other things about this website that are extremely useful and real.

Sophie mentioned that most provinces have full-access subscriptions to the website- BC included, so hopefully in the future I can get full access to all of the amazing resources within it. You’ll notice that the link to the website only shows the login page because of that, but Sophie did show us on zoom the full-access page.

When you open up the website, the first page that comes up is the home page, and it is always full of the “Hits Of the Month”- so any resources that teachers are using a lot that month so other educators can look and see what others are doing in Canada. I have access to a limited free version which is what you will see down below.

One of the other features of the website is the “Dossiers Thématiques” (Thematic Folders). It is a HUGE time-saver for teachers. Rather than having to search a million different times for the same themes, the Thematic Folders organizes videos, interactive games and teaching guides by topic- for example; Indigenous Perspectives, Climate Change or STEM. On top of that, IDÉLLO offers hundreds of pre-made lesson plans that are super easy to follow.

Here you will also be able to select content and resources based on French language level. So not only will the content of the activity or video be age appropriate, the language within it will be as well, making for a better experience for your students.

Another tool that Sophie showed us was the “Coup D’oeil Sur L’année” or “Year At A Glance” planning tool. This tool provides a month-by-month calendar that maps out your curriculum expectations. It fills it in with specific IDÉLLO resources that you could use for each unit you will be doing throughout the year and shows you how long to spend on each one, and how they can overlap and flow into one another;

While there are lots of other cool features that I can definitely see myself using as a future teacher, another recourse Sophie showed us is called Boukili. It is kind of like a personalized reading coach but online. It allows teachers to give all of their students access so that they can interact with it in class and at home if they wish. It offers countless French books for students to read.

The books are offered in a “3-Way” reading mode;

1. Narration; the book can be read to them
2. Solo; students can read at their own pace
3. Recording; students can record themselves reading the book

Teachers can assign students specific readings and see their progress and follow along with them online.

The website also comes with a global travel style “Passport” that frames the website as an adventure. Students get an avatar and a passport. As they read books, play games and answer quizzes related to the books’ content, they earn stamps and unlock new outfits for their avatar and new countries to travel to. It turns their reading into a interactive quest.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with all of the new resources I was introduced to during this Pro D Day session. I can’t wait to have my own classroom and use these news findings in my own class!